The Horse 911: What&#39;s Your Emergency?The Horse 911: What&#39;s Your Emergency? describes real-life equine emergencies and rescues, along with lessons on how to avoid such situations when possible and how to effectively save the horses and humans involved.http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/atom.aspxCommunity Server2013-12-27T08:00:00ZBe A Hero To Your Horse: Proactively React To Wildfire Dangerhttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2015/08/24/be-a-hero-to-your-horse-proactively-react-to-wildfire-disasters.aspx2015-08-24T18:20:00Z2015-08-24T18:20:00Z<div class="inset image"><img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2012/10/TH-LEGACY-IMAGE-ID-313-wildfire.jpg?preset=medium" mce_src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2012/10/TH-LEGACY-IMAGE-ID-313-wildfire.jpg?preset=medium">
<p>Having an evacuation plan in case of fire could save your horse's life.</p>
<p class="imageCredit">Photo: iStock</p>
</div>
<p>Today I got a note from a reader in the West who boards her horse and is trying to be prepared. Stephanie Nicole said, “Just last week I got called 'paranoid' and other mean comments for wanting to be prepared. I'm the only person in a boarding stable of 40-plus horses with any sort of emergency plan. I got laughed at for putting shipping boots on a horse then going 10 minutes down the road. I'm the resident 'safety freak' but we'll see who's laughing when&nbsp;<i>my</i> horse is alive and safe when something happens!”</p>
<p>
The main theme of this blog is to learn from the successes and failures of others in similar situations and scenarios that boggle the mind’s ability to understand them. Wildfires can happen anywhere in the world, and they move very fast. In this post, we will only discuss wildfire evacuation planning, since shelter-in-place planning is extremely dangerous and very difficult in wildfire situations.
</p>
<p>We know that firefighters and weathermen have been
predicting wildfires in the Western United States would be worse than ever
this year due to years of drought, buildup of forest fuels, and increasing
numbers of people living in the wildland/urban interface. State animal response planners in the Western
states have been warning people<a>to</a> come up with an evacuation plan for themselves, their properties, and animals before the disaster comes.</p>
<p>This week&nbsp;more than <a href="http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us" target="_blank" mce_href="http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us">100 fires</a>&nbsp;are burning in the United States, and&nbsp; people on social media
and online news sources are sharing photographs of numerous horrific situations
in which horses (and other livestock and animals) have died in trailers&nbsp;during <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bigcountrynewsconnection/photos/a.222726484460961.56130.209374779129465/933963000003969/?type=1&amp;theater" target="_blank" mce_href="https://www.facebook.com/bigcountrynewsconnection/photos/a.222726484460961.56130.209374779129465/933963000003969/?type=1&amp;theater">evacuate attempts made&nbsp;too late</a> videos of people leading horses out on foot and next to vehicles; livestock and horses
trapped in fenced areas that died of smoke inhalation; and numerous other small
and large situations that indicate a failure to evacuate or entrapment. Note: Don’t
just lead them out of the barn and let them go, as even <a href="http://www.thehorse.com/articles/36281/idahos-soda-fire-claims-27-wild-horses" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.thehorse.com/articles/36281/idahos-soda-fire-claims-27-wild-horses">wild horses get killed</a> in
an area where they live and know their way around.
</p>
<p>Other examples of failure to plan include owners leading their horses down main roads or interstate evacuation routes.These last-minute methods only demonstrate the lengths to which
desperate people&nbsp;will go to try to save&nbsp; their animal&nbsp;and confirm that most
people fail to plan ahead. These are not
heroes–they are people who failed to plan, failed to prepare, and failed to
execute well. In previous generations
these failures would have been looked upon negatively–in our generation, it
makes the media.</p>
<p>Evacuation plans should be a part of the owner's annual
review of disaster mitigation strategies for a facility and absolutely must be
reviewed when wildfire season begins. In
several news stories this wildfire season, the real heroes are <a href="http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/evacuating-ranch-how-15-horses-and-their-people-escaped-raging-fire" target="_blank" mce_href="http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/evacuating-ranch-how-15-horses-and-their-people-escaped-raging-fire">proactive people</a>
like Stephanie who plan ahead and ensure they can get their horses, kids, dogs, and valuables out ahead of time. In the military we have a phrase–“leaning
forward in their foxhole”–another words, people who are situationally aware
and ready to execute their plan.</p>
<p>It's not the fire department’s job to come “save” you and
your animals if you do not plan ahead. Be able to evacuate on your own
efficiently and safely. Prevention, mitigation, planning and taking
responsibility for your animals should be the theme of animal ownership–an
all-hazards approach minimizes emergencies, injuries to animals, and losses.</p>
<p>Count the number of horse trailer stalls you have in your trailer. That's
the number of horses you can evacuate. Now, count the number of horses you
have on your facility. Did you have to swallow when you realized the
point? You will not have time to come
back for a second or third load of horses unless you evacuate extremely early
and before evacuation orders are mandated.</p>
<p>It’s not the flames that kill horses or people, so don't
wait until the fires start creeping up on you to make your evacuation
plan. Normally it is not the flames of a
wildfire that will cause you and your horse to need to evacuate&nbsp;but instead&nbsp;the
thick black smoke filled with toxins and poor air quality that impact you well
before the flames get to your location, sometimes from miles away depending on
ambient environmental factors (humidity, wind direction, speed, etc.). Toxins
released by burning can&nbsp;severely damage to the lungs of any living
organism. Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are common byproducts of fires
and, when inhaled, block the absorption of oxygen at the level of the
hemoglobin in the blood, causing asphyxiation through anoxia. Flames do not
necessarily need to be visible for this to occur. Animals removed from wildfire
affected areas may appear medically stable for days, then crash with severe
pneumonia. Owners should consult a veterinarian immediately for aftercare
because of airway complications from smoke and toxic fumes.</p>
<ul>
<li>Be ready before the fires come with your truck hitched to the trailer, all relevant equipment loaded, extra water and forage, and vehicle prefueled. Experienced people in wildfire areas always have their trailer hitched and pointing out the driveway so that they don’t lose time if a fire sparks close to their facility.</li>
<li>Teach your animals to be reliable loaders in horse trailers or other transportation equipment is an excellent prevention mechanism to facilitate evacuation.</li>
<li>Teach your boarders, children, and family members what to do and where to meet if fire threatens–this will be specific to your facility but you don’t want to lose time looking for people or pets. What is your alarm call? Who does what?</li>
<li>Identify an alternate place to put your animals ahead of time, many miles away and out of the response zone where they will be less stressed and can reliably be fed and watered. Call friends and make a reciprocal agreement. For regional wildfire disasters, have a pre-coordinated evacuation facility in another state where you can take the animals.</li>
<li>Identify more than one route away from your facility in case roads are closed or blocked by fire progress. Horse trailers always need to be among the first to evacuate, because it will take you longer to drive the same route and you do not want to be stuck in traffic with your horses in the trailer.</li>
<li>Purchase a NOAA weather radio and listen to it at all times. Download the apps to your phone that allow you to track fire concerns in your area and evacuation warnings. Pay attention and check several times a day to maintain awareness of fires close to you.</li>
<li>Write down your plan for your facility for evacuation. Now, practice that plan, it is recommended that owners practice once a quarter as a matter of routine. Think you can do evacuate all your horses in just 30 minutes? Time it. You will scare yourself the first time with how long it takes, but practice makes perfect. Public facilities and boarding barns should practice a fire drill and review the evacuation plan once a month which ensures new boarders, employees and students are well prepared. Practice your evacuation plan to find the weaknesses within it. Note: The planning process is as important (if not more important) than the plan itself, involving all affected people as a team in generating the plan (family, employees, friends, boarders, etc.). This ensures commitment by everyone to the effort. This kind of training and preparation makes employees and family members more self-reliant, efficient, and confident if a disaster or emergency occurs.</li>
<li>Now that you have tweaked the issues–your facility should post the evacuation plan for wildfires where everyone can read it and see it easily. Tip: Insurers or the local fire department will walk through facilities and barns with owners to identify hazards and give suggestions for reducing fire risk. Make an appointment with the local fire department to come out and get involved, they are the professionals that can point out individual problems to consider with prevention and mitigation</li>
</ul>
<p>Preparation,prevention, and planning are all things that we know we should do but tend to
push off to deal with more short-term deadlines and responsibilities. From your horses' perspective however, there is nothing that is more incipient than his/her safety and comfort. The responsibility of ownership extends to facilitating an evacuation plan for your animal(s), as much as it does to providing shelter, food, and water.</p>
<p><b>I welcome your comments and stories of evacuation successes
and disasters here. Please share below.</b></p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=12860" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxTowing Safety and Horse Trailer Maintenancehttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2015/04/01/tow-safety-and-trailer-maintenance.aspx2015-04-01T18:30:00Z2015-04-01T18:30:00Z<div class="inset image">
<img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2014/06/truck-pulling-horse-trailer.jpg?preset=medium">
<p class="imageCredit">Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse</p>
</div>
<p>As we come into the Spring season in the Northern Hemisphere – in the large animal rescue and response world we brace ourselves for the
onslaught of trailer wrecks that seem to come with the grass and flowers as people load up for their first shows and trail rides of the year.</p>
<p>This year I am thrilled to team up with Dr. Robin Mills Ridgway, PhD, PE (an engineer), and Purdue University Extension to talk about "Trailer and Tow Vehicle Safety and Maintenance Considerations." Consider putting on a training event at your Pony Club, saddle club, 4-H meeting, etc., to educate people about their truck and trailers: what makes them work, and how to prevent horrific tragedies.&nbsp;Links to some great Purdue Extension resources are listed at the bottom of this post.</p>
<p>As horse transporters (whether it is 5 miles or 500 miles or just around the corner to a friend’s house), we want to provide a safe transport to our beloved horses and animals that trust us enough to go into a trailer at our bidding. Some of the most horrific things can happen to our horses in incidents where maintenance of the trailer floor, hitch, coupler, or other structural components fail. We want to avoid situations like these and that begins with understanding the anatomy of our rig.</p>
<p>The major components of a horse transport “bumper-pull or tag-along” or a “gooseneck” rig include the trailer (called in other countries a float), the coupler and hitch, and the towing vehicle. They look very different because in the “tag along” rig, the trailer is hitched to the rear of the towing vehicle (car, SUV or truck), while in a gooseneck the trailer is hitched to a ball placed above the rear axle of the towing vehicle, normally a truck.</p>
<p>You can start by checking the overall picture of your rig by hitching it, parking on flat pavement, then standing back and looking to ensure that it is level. If too much weight is on the tongue of the tag along trailer, it will cause it to bend down at the hitch in the middle, changing the weight distribution of the towing vehicle and putting uneven loads on the tires which will show uneven wear and can fail. Alternately, if the weight distribution is uneven and causes the hitch to rise in the center of the rig, it will cause uneven loading of the rear axles of the trailer, again possibly causing failure.</p>
<p>One of the most misunderstood things about choice of tow vehicle is, “Can I pull it with my car/SUV/truck?” That is not the best question.&nbsp;The best question to ask is, “Can I&nbsp;stop it and can I manage it in an emergency?”</p>
<p>Horse trailers are large open boxes, which unfortunately makes them seem safe for people to load all kinds of things into them, including extra hay, tack, water, grain, etc. which can totally change the intended weight calculations of the loaded trailer. A “loaded” trailer includes the horses, all your stuff, and the weight of the trailer itself,which can be really heavy and hard to control with a towing vehicle that is not heavy enough or intended to handle it.</p>
<p>Tow vehicle “care and feeding” includes knowledge of the gross vehicle weight rating and gross combined vehicle weight (of the tow vehicle and trailer. Do you know what’s under the hood of your vehicle? Have you conducted a pretrip check? If you don’t know what you are looking at&nbsp;or fore, take it to a professional and have&nbsp;him or her&nbsp;check for to make sure everything is&nbsp;in good repair, from the tires to the A/C and fluids.</p>
<p>An anatomy check of the tow vehicle will change depending on what you are towing with, but you should at the very least know where to check and possibly add oil, transmission fluid, washer fluid, power steering fluid, coolant for the radiator, and brake fluid. And in the case of possibly having
to jump your battery, you should know where it is (or where both are if you have a big truck) and have cables for that possibility. If you don’t know, ask a professional to show you.</p>
<p>Trailer “care and feeding” is similar to your vehicle – although a trailer is mostly a rolling box, it must be structurally sound with floors in good shape, all steel parts solid, lubricated and working, and no rusty sharp edges where animals can injure themselves. Don’t be shy – crawl under your trailer to check if the floor is in working order, that the brake wires aren’t pulled loose, that the rust isn’t significant, the supports and connections aren’t falling apart, and that the nuts are connected to the bolts that hold the axles on.</p>
<p>Check ramps to ensure they aren’t rusted or rotten – horses stepping onto a rotten floor can go thru it. Ramp springs need to be lubricated and ensure they aren’t fatigued, if they aren’t working to help lift the ramp, find out what is wrong. You should be able to stand to the side and work the ramp. Never stand behind a ramp to open and close it – this is very unsafe as a bolting horse can back out over a person and crush them.</p>
<p>Now on to the tires, which should be of the proper type and size with the correct load rating for the size and weight of your trailer. You can read these facts on the side of the trailer tire, and if you don’t know, ask a tire professional. Replace your tires at the proper age – every five years is usually the manufacturer’s recommendation. They rot from the inside and won’t show wear until they fail. I always get larger and heavier duty tires than what normally come with trailers – mine are load range G tires with 110 psi that might be more expensive, but they don’t blow out at the same rate as the lowest quality tires (ST tires are trailer service only, which tells you something).</p>
<p>The single most important fact to know is that proper inflation pressures have to be used for tires to avoid blowouts and that this has to be done regularly – the air in tires is not eternal. By the time you see cracks in the tire on the outside, that tire is rotted out from the inside. </p>
<p>When you are considering purchasing a new trailer or a used one – be more concerned about the design of the trailer for your and the horses’ safety – not necessarily the nice layout of the tackroom or living quarters. Manufacturers take short cuts in the trailer industry just like everywhere else, and it is buyer beware. Remember that there is no safety testing of any trailers in the USA and that the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers' (NATM) stamp looks pretty but means only that manufacturer ascribes to voluntary minimum standards for building trailers – no one audits or checks to see if they actually conform, and minimum standards are pretty minimal.</p>
<p>Let’s get into the trailer and look for safety in design – look at the butt and chest bars – make sure that you can operate them from a safe position. Horse trailers should always have two methods of keeping a horse in the trailer (aka ramp and butt bars, or butt bars and a door, etc.)</p>
<p>Do you know how to change a flat tire on your&nbsp;trailer? It is always preferable to practice at home instead of on the side of the road. Know
how to get the wheel covers off, and the lug nuts, and balance the trailer on a drive up chock / jack so that you can safely change the wheel. Use safety triangles way behind your trailer to warn other drivers and have the correct size lug wrench and tools to remove and replace the tire.</p>
<p>Look at the anatomy of a “bumper hitch” (no trailer should ever be placed on the bumper even if there are holes there for a ball) or more correctly called a “tag along” system. Find the safety chains and ensure they are properly rated for the loaded weight of the trailer. Find the emergency breakaway and make sure it is connected and that the battery has a charge. Ensure there is a locking pin for the coupler, that the coupler is lubricated and sets down all the way over the ball, and that the nut and lock washer on the ball are tightened.</p>
<p>Then check your brakes and lights to ensure all is working. While there are numerous kinds of electrical connections, your rig should at a minimum have a brake controller, electrical connection between towing vehicle and trailer, and emergency breakaway brakes system. The emergency breakaway system should always be connected to the frame/hitch of the towing vehicle – not to anything on the chains or trailer side (whether it is a gooseneck or a tag along.)</p>
<p>Getting the correct ball size for the trailer you are towing is important because your hitch capacity is only as strong as the weakest component. You should get a new hitch ball if it becomes beat up or every 10 years, which ever comes first. Keep it lubricated. Make sure the coupler is the same size as the ball. Make sure the ball rating is matched to the tongue weight and the mount rating of the hitch into the receiver of the tow vehicle for the trailer you are hauling. Solid mounts normally are higher ratings than hollow ones.</p>
<p>Looking at examples of towing vehicles matched to various trailers that you might see on the road comes down to looking at the engineering of those rigs and making decisions based on the best control and braking abilities of the combination that you can get. Although weight distributing and load leveling systems exist, they do not make up for a poorly matched combination of towing vehicle and trailer.</p>
<p>Check out the following trailer-safety information from Purdue University:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?itemID=21482#.VP2-y_nF9-4" mce_href="https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?itemID=21482#.VP2-y_nF9-4">“The Truck-Trailer Combination Vehicle: Making Sure the Numbers Add Up”</a> (Purdue University Cooperative Extension Publication #109) $5</li>
<li><a href="https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/PPP/PPP-92.pdf" mce_href="https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/PPP/PPP-92.pdf">“Keep the Trailer Connected to the Truck: Understanding the 'Hitch' System”</a> (Purdue University Cooperative Extension Publication #92) FREE
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/PPP/PPP-99.pdf" mce_href="https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/PPP/PPP-99.pdf">“Tires For the Road and Field: A Guide to Getting the Best Value and Performance”</a> (Purdue University Cooperative Extension Publication #99) FREE</li>
</ul>
<p><b>What are your worst horror stories having to do with trailers and trucks that weren't properly maintained or&nbsp;matched? We all learn from each other and I&nbsp;like to learn from you. Please share!</b></p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=12450" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxSnow Blizzard 2015: Are You Prepared?http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2015/01/26/snow-blizzard-2015-are-you-prepared.aspx2015-01-26T17:12:00Z2015-01-26T17:12:00Z
<p>One farm in Connecticut&nbsp;prepared this morning&nbsp;for the Blizzard of 2015. The farm's herd included&nbsp;27 horses--a mix of minis, draft, and regular horses.&nbsp;In preparation for the predicted blizzard, Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS),&nbsp;with Jon Nowinski at the helm, rallied--supported by CDHR (Connecticut Draft Horse Rescue) volunteers--to help out at Locket's Meadow Farm to prepare the indoor arena as a temporary shelter setup to keep their horses safe and secure. They enacted their emergency shelter plan, which would use the indoor riding arena as a temporary setup to move all horses inside. Note: The main barn at this location has been undergoing repairs, and out of concern for the roof and predicted snow loads, managers and emergency personal decided this would be a best-choice scenario to ensure the safety of all horses on the property.</p>
<img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2015/01/emergency-hay-supply.jpg?preset=medium" mce_src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2015/01/emergency-hay-supply.jpg?preset=medium">
<p>Locket's Meadow Farm managers prepared for the blizzard by making sure they had enough hay to weather the storm.</p>
<p class="imageCredit">Photo: Courtesy Rebecca Gimenez</p>
<p>This facility is primarily a horse rescue but has a few boarders as well. And, although their horses are perfectly used being outside in Connecticut winters, managers&nbsp;didn’t want to have people out in a blizzard trying to take care of horses, especially if something should go wrong, or if the storm gets worse than expected or lasts much longer.</p>
<p>Their design is fairly simply: Create "stalls" using the fencing along all sides of the indoor arena. Each "stall" was made using&nbsp;three fencing panels against a solid wall. They used steel strapping screwed into the wall to hold the panels in place. This way the horses&nbsp;can see each other, and buddies can even groom each other--but they can get away from each other too. While it's not a complicated process to erect stalls, it is one that requires teamwork and moves much faster when you have a group of people working together.</p>
<img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2015/01/ears-ct-more-stalls.jpg?preset=medium" mce_src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2015/01/ears-ct-more-stalls.jpg?preset=medium">
<p>Panels were used to create temporary stalls.</p>
<p class="imageCredit">Photo: Courtesy Rebecca Gimenez</p>
<p>There were&nbsp;a lot&nbsp;of panels, and 27 "stalls" to create. Even the process of loading, unloading, moving, putting together, and dismantling of these stall areas is something that needs consideration and practice. It took around four hours in total for the setup, including transport time. It's an important reminder that horses (and other large animals) require additional considerations... most can't be put together in such a small space, some need to be assured specific or larger amounts of space, some need to be in corners, some not near others, some with more secured fencing, some don’t like the other types of animals near them, etc., etc.</p>
<img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2015/01/ears-ct-stalls.jpg?preset=medium" mce_src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2015/01/ears-ct-stalls.jpg?preset=medium">
<p>The horses, ready to wait out the storm in the safety of temporary stalls inside the arena.</p>
<p class="imageCredit">Photo: Courtesy Rebecca Gimenez</p>
<p>This is why it is was so imperative to plan and practice ahead of time. For this blizzard they watched the&nbsp;weather report&nbsp;and understood that the snow would be coming on Monday morning--and are expecting up to 24 inches there. So they started working on Saturday to ensure they had enough panels, as well as the hay nets, hay, feed, buckets, and cleaning tools needed to make this happen (most&nbsp;area tack stores are closed on Sunday).</p>
<p>Every facility, small or large, should have plans in place for alternate sheltering of the animals on site,even if it's only temporary until a greater plan can be acted upon. These plans should be developed&nbsp;long before any incident that needs it, and should be written out, discussed, regularly updated, and practised. So many places that I've talked to have taken some steps to be prepared but fail to follow through, and the vast majority (even those with good plans on paper) have never practiced their plans.</p>
<p><b>Update:</b></p>
<p>On Monday late morning, the stalls are all prepared for the actual blizzard to start, with water buckets filled, hay in each bag, and first feeding in their feed buckets.&nbsp;Although the heaviest winds are expected this afternoon and tonight, when it starts to pick up and snow to be moved around they are bringing the horses in.</p>
<p><b>What preparations are you making for the Blizzard of 2015?&nbsp;Please share details with all of us.</b></p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=12340" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxSix Ways to Better Prevent and Respond to Barn Fireshttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2015/01/12/six-ways-to-better-prevent-and-respond-to-barn-fires.aspx2015-01-12T13:39:00Z2015-01-12T13:39:00Z<div class="inset image">
<img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2012/10/TH-LEGACY-IMAGE-ID-247-barn-fire.jpg?preset=medium">
<p>Barn fires happen to people in all sectors of the horse industry.</p>
<p class="imageCredit">Photo: Photos.com</p>
</div>
<p>At the AAEP 2014 convention in Salt Lake City in December, Coralie Mouraw
(a third-year vet student at University of llinois) and&nbsp;I worked together
on a presentation for veterinarians that highlighted some of the simple, as
well as the more expensive and difficult, methods of changing what we do when
building barns to take into account barn fire safety for our animals.</p>
<p>We made the point that traditional barn
design really hasn’t changed over the past 600 years and that, despite improvements
in many aspects of fire prevention and building ventilation engineering, many barn
builders and owners never consult with fire fighters, veterinarians, or
ventilation engineers when they build their barns. We&nbsp;hope to change&nbsp;horsemen's attitudes about barn
fires – they're not just tragic losses in many cases, but rather they're&nbsp;also preventable
accidents that deserve our attention and diligent improvements.</p>
<p>We put together these
six best ways to design, manage, and build a barn for prevention of barn fires,
and be able to better respond and remove horses (in the 3 to 5 minutes before the fire department even shows
up). The published&nbsp;article is available for download by your AAEP member&nbsp;veterinarian, or by request to me personally at <a href="mailto:delphiacres@hotmail.com" mce_href="mailto:delphiacres@hotmail.com">delphiacres@hotmail.com</a>.</p>
<p> <b>1. Every human house, public building, and restaurant has at least&nbsp;two exits from every structure.</b> This is dictated by the NFPA’s (National Fire
Protection Association's Life Safety Codes and Standards). Why don’t horses have stall
doors to the outside wall as well as the inside one? This should be standardized by all barn
designers, giving any responder on scene (even without fire fighting gear) a
chance to remove a horse from its stall without running into the dangerous
inside aisleway (which always collapse into the center under fire conditions). It is even better to have a small paddock on
the outside, so that the horse can be let out and haltered and led away from
the barn. It's even better to have a run-out lane so that all horses let out of their outside doors can be chased down a laneway to a pasture
away from the barn, and then the gate shut to prevent them from returning.</p>
<p>2. <b>Barn and horse facility designers and builders&nbsp;should consult NFPA 150 Standard on Animal
Housing for best practice guidelines</b> on how to improve electrical services, separate
combustibles and flammables,&nbsp; and include appropriate use of firewalls and fire curtains to
prevent fast movement of fire and smoke, use of advanced detection and alarm systems
for smoke, flame and carbon monoxide, the use of installed sprinkler systems,
etc.The firefighting community has made
excellent suggestions for <a href="http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages?mode=code&amp;code=150" mce_href="http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages?mode=code&amp;code=150">best practices for facilities of all sizes</a>&nbsp;to reduce
the occurrence of fire, and to minimize effects if it does occur.
Does your barn builder, architect or designer know about this document?</p>
<p><b>3. </b><b>Minimize the
obstacles in the aisleways.</b> Tack boxes, hay bales, wheelbarrows, and tools
laying in the aisle makes it harder for firefighters to enter the aisleway and
actually reach the horses in a real response. If they trip over your obstacles, they will probably refuse to enter the
barn further because safety for the humans is paramount over your horse
victims.&nbsp; Make it easy for firefighters
to access and put access aisles at least every 50 feet through the barn. If they
have to go more than 120 feet to get to the other end,&nbsp;firefighters&nbsp;will be reluctant to enter
even in firefighting gear. The ability to egress is important.</p>
<p><b>4. </b><b>Minimize the fuel load in the barn</b>. From&nbsp;a firefigher's&nbsp;perspective, everything inside a barn is combustible fuel – from the shavings
and hay to the rubber mats. Storage of
hay and straw above the horses in the same space as the horses is something
that was done hundreds of years ago – they didn’t know better. Today, we know from hundreds of tragic fires that
it's foolish to increase the amount of fuel in a barn&nbsp;–&nbsp;fuel&nbsp;will only
compound an incipient fire and speed its spread. Does your barn have hay above the
horses? Make sure your barn owner knows
how dangerous it is, and ask them to put it in a separate building at least 50
feet away from the horse facility.&lt;</p>
<p><b>5. </b><b>Make sure you have increased the chances of the firefighters finding your barn.</b> Do you have a big reflective sign with the number on it out front? Can they get through your gate and down your driveway, then around the barn (preferably on gravel or asphalt?) Do you have fire extinguishers in place and
hose systems hooked up at all times to attempt to put out the flames until the
fire department arrives? Do you have a
pond or standpipe hydrant that they can use for water? So many people that we talk to after fires
tell us that the firefighters couldn’t access their property, couldn’t get to
the barn, or didn’t have enough water available to fight the fire. This requires preplanning with your local
fire department officials. Invite them to your property and ask them to conduct a full
pre-lanning tour to discuss ways that you can improve fire safety and response
to your property. </p>
<p> Make a plan and
practice your plan. Start from the middle of your driveway and see
how long it really takes to get to the barn, get the horses haltered, led to a
safe paddock or ring, released, the gate closed, and then return to get the
rest. It usually takes a lot longer than
you think, and with a three- to five-minute window of time from flame ignition, it can
be a sobering experience. Make
improvements as you practice until you can perform this challenging task in
less than 5 minutes. </p>
<p> Barn fires happen to people in all sectors of the horse
industry – from rich to poor, from show to performance to work to pleasure to
backyard. Don’t let it be you that gets
that gut wrenching whiff of smoke and fear. Do something about it today… this is by far the best present you
can ever give your clients, your horses, and yourself.</p>
<b>What fire-prevention methods have you used in your barn?</b>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=12139" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxMovies and TV's Effect on Real-Life Horse Extractionshttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2014/06/19/Movies-and-TVs-Effect-on-Real-Life-Horse-Extractions.aspx2014-06-19T17:00:00Z2014-06-19T17:00:00Z<p>The last approximately 100 years of motion pictures and video has profoundly influenced our societal considerations of how horses are rescued from emergency situations, both from the perspective of owner expectations for care, what appears to be “correct” techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTP), and most especially for concerns of animal welfare.</p><p>Although these media have increased our understanding of the variety of animals that occur across the earth, some demonstrations and live rescues documented for public viewing haven’t been subjected to scrutiny&nbsp;for any level of animal welfare, veterinary science, or emergency response expertise.&nbsp;</p><p>Additionally, the tendency to celebrate&nbsp;any rescue effort over a well prepared and organized rescue effort has contributed to a societal imprint of expectations that run counter to many of the correct TTPs as practiced by professionals in these areas of emergency or disaster response.</p><p>Where did the problem really start?&nbsp;TV coverage of rodeo and western movies--which for&nbsp;more than&nbsp;50 years featured heroic cowboys driving cattle and riding horses (and rescuing lost calves, extricating trapped cattle, etc.)--“taught” us that cattle had to be driven forward by anyone on any kind of horse. In reality, cattle are much easier to lead with feed or to be guided at slow speeds with minimal numbers of knowledgeable cattlemen or women, and there is significant specialty training that goes into the training of the horses and people that rope, work, or drive cattle.</p><p>Genre movie westerns featured mostly horses running with the protagonist and other bad guys either chasing, or being chased. In reality, very few working horses are worked faster than a trot and most cattle work is done at a walk to prevent upsettling&nbsp;the cattle and losing control of the herd. Thus the tendency by bar “cowboys” to want to overpush horses and cattle when presented with the challenges of moving them or containing them.</p><p>"Wild Kingdom" and similar wildlife trapping shows of the '70s and '80s produced still more generations of Americans that think darting a large animal (whether it be a hyena or zebra on the African plain or a loose horse on the interstate) is the appropriate, safe, and effective way to deal with large animals that cannot easily be caught.&nbsp;While nothing could be further from the truth, the myth pervades to this day.&nbsp;Chemical immobilization with a dart system can be utilized in special situations to provide safety for the operator, but it can be dangerous to the operator, bystanders, and to the darted animal as well.</p><p>Capture myopathy, a condition that occurs in the muscles of a large animal that is stressed and chased for too long, is deadly to animals that are then darted and can cause cardiac issues and death.&nbsp; Worse, if darted your horse is probably going to suffer a large traumatic injury to the area where the dart hits, resulting in a nasty abscess that will need veterinary oversight.</p><p>By the 1980s and '90s, standard fare on TV included "Rescue 911" and similar "docu-dramas," which occasionally&nbsp;showed "animal rescue" situations. These&nbsp;tended to feature a narrator raising the dramatic effect by deeply intoning the importance of hurrying to save the animal while well-meaning but poorly prepared or trained or equipped bystanders jump in to effect a rescue.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><b>Example #1:</b>&nbsp; In Louisiana,&nbsp;a tall mounted policeman climbs into an overturned two-horse trailer on the Interstate to provide sedation to the obviously fractious and terrified horse tied inside. The horse&nbsp;is then released from its tie and pulled by the tail out of the trailer&nbsp;onto the asphalt of the highway, for which&nbsp;the rescuer&nbsp;was praised for his heroism and skills.&nbsp;None of which would be vaunted today in a trained rescuer.</p><p><b>Primary Concerns:</b>&nbsp; Providing sedation to someone else’s animal is within the realm of a veterinarian, not a mounted police officer, even in an emergency situation. Going into a confined space (a steel horse trailer, even when&nbsp;not overturned, with its limited room for access/egress is well within OSHA guidelines for confined space) cannot be recommended for anyone until the animal is sedated from the exterior of the trailer.</p><p>Pulling the horse by its tail to remove it from&nbsp;any situation is not recommended or safe for the animal. Leaving the horse on the asphalt to wake up and try to stand is not recommended.</p><p><b>Today’s trained fix:</b>&nbsp; Arriving personnel perform a scene safety sweep, set up road traffic safety for the scene, and someone knowledgeable performs an assessment of the horse trailer to find a recumbent horse that appears to be minimally injured.&nbsp;They use a tarp over the trailer to minimize stimuli to the animal while simultaneously contacting a large animal veterinarian to respond to the scene.</p><p>Using a jab stick or pole syringe, or use of the under-tail vein, the animal is sedated from the exterior of the trailer by the arriving veterinarian or a qualified person under the direction of the veterinarian. Once quiet, the animal’s tie is cut with a curved knife on a long access pole, and webbing emplaced around its hips using either the flossing method or a Strop Guide into a backwards drag configuration.&nbsp;With rescuers using a tarp to cover any jutting sharp edges, the horse is extricated on the tarp by sliding rearward to the asphalt, then pulled to a safe place either at the side of the road or into a waiting equine ambulance. The animal handler at that point maintains control of the animal, the veterinarian further evaluates it for primary assessment at triage and provides first aid.</p><p><b>Reality Check</b>&nbsp;</p><p>Countless movies have downplayed the importance of scene safety and understanding true animal behavior, instead focusing on the dramatic "union" of a young person with an equine such as "The Black Stallion" or even intimating that the animals can talk as in "Racing Stripes" with a zebra. Insinuating that animals can talk, think through problems, or work together to solve puzzling challenges teaches the audience to become more anthropomorphic (assigning the emotions and thought processes of humans to animals), and although horses are very intelligent in their own way and communicate effectively with those of their own species, very few humans have learned to return the favor.</p><p>Thus, when trapped a horse doesn’t wait for its human to come rescue it or lay quietly waiting for assistance--it struggles violently and wears itself out--combining medical stress with physical stress, which sometimes overwhelms the animal even before a human can respond. If you get in the danger zone, you can be kicked or crushed by the animal not meaning to hurt you but just fighting for its life.<br></p><p>The bottom line is to understand that movies, TV, and YouTube videos are fun to watch but all take advantage of the human tendency to want to believe that everything will work out all right, and that the horse in peril can “understand” that we are trying to help it. Horses&nbsp;do not.&nbsp;Closer investigation of what you see on media will quickly demonstrate that in many cases, the responders are simply applying mechanical methods with no clear understanding of horse behavior and fear responses. If you want to be able to help your horse, learn more about these aspects and how to mitigate them in your horse, and most importantly, in your own&nbsp;response to emergencies. And if you plan to be a responder, get an education related to emergency technical rescue of horses. Don’t rely on the movies to teach you how to do it right.<br></p><img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=11499" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxReport: Animals after Disasters Conferencehttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2014/04/07/report-from-the-animals-after-disasters-conference-augusta-ga.aspx2014-04-07T16:27:00Z2014-04-07T16:27:00Z<p>I was thrilled to join <a href="http://www.aspca.org/about-us/press-releases/aspca-names-dr-dick-green-director-disaster-response" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.aspca.org/about-us/press-releases/aspca-names-dr-dick-green-director-disaster-response">Dr. Dick Green</a> <font face="Calibri" size="3">
at the recent one-day conference , Animals after Disasters, hosted by the Georgia
Department of Agriculture Emergency Management with <a href="http://agr.georgia.gov/emergency-management.aspx " target="_blank" mce_href="http://agr.georgia.gov/emergency-management.aspx ">Dr. Venessa Sims-Green</a></font><font face="Calibri" size="3"> and Augusta Animal Services Director Sharon Broady. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>The intent of this conference, attended by
representatives from Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Maryland was to improve our understanding of the
scope of disasters from the financial, legal, and logistical response
considerations.</font></p><p><font face="Calibri" size="3"></font>Dr. Green has done field rescues or been involved in improvements
in animal welfare on every single continent except Antarctica--from hoarder
situations in the United&nbsp;States&nbsp;to animals trapped in volcanos to the Philippine cyclones. He also championed the <a href="http://narsc.net/ " target="_blank" mce_href="http://narsc.net/ ">National Animal Rescue and Sheltering Coalition</a><font face="Calibri" size="3"> of animal disaster shelter organizations as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Over the years I have watched him build continued
success and coalitions of coordinated people in the animal disaster and animal
welfare movements.&nbsp;Although animal disaster organizations tend to focus on small animals, in this conference we also discussed horses and other large animals.</font>
</p><font face="Calibri" size="3"></font><p>Dr. Green’s keynote lecture began with a historical overview to demonstrate how far we have come in disaster preparedness and, particularly, response.
He started with Biblical references to animal welfare and humane treatment (Noah
and the Ark, etc.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His timeline included
1822 in the United Kingdom with the passage of the first legislation in the known world for
large animals which would later become known as the Royal Soceity for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals&nbsp;(Richard Martin drove this, and then Henry Berg was part of this
movement for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1824). The seed was
planted in the United States, and in 1916 the Red Star program for horse ambulances on the
battlefields of Europe were started by American Humane Association. </p>
<p>The movement to protect animals from maltreatment (you will
remember “Black Beauty” the famous book by Anna Sewell was written in 1877 and
while forthrightly teaching animal welfare, it also teaches children how to
treat people with kindness, empathy, and respect) was started&nbsp;way earlier than
laws preventing children from being labored in the mines and dangerous jobs (passed
in the United States in 1938). Civil Defense programs for humans came about in the 1950s,
followed by many new national and international humane animal organizations in
the 1960s.</p>
<p>Remember, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
only came about in the 1970s, and emergency management for people as a
profession has only been considered a career path for about 20 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1993, the disaster veterinarians came
together under <a href="https://www.avma.org/professionaldevelopment/trainingandservice/vmat/pages/default.aspx" mce_href="https://www.avma.org/professionaldevelopment/trainingandservice/vmat/pages/default.aspx">American Veterinary Medical Association’s Veterinary Medical Assistance Team (MAT)&nbsp;program</a><font face="Calibri" size="3">, later split into VMAT and the DHS/NDMS program <a href="https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/responders/ndms/teams/Pages/nvrt.aspx" target="_blank" mce_href="https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/responders/ndms/teams/Pages/nvrt.aspx">National Veterinary Emergency
Response Team (NVERT)</a></font></p><font face="Calibri" size="3">
<p>
<p>Disaster work with animals really started in 1992 with
Hurricane Andrew. None of the animal welfare folks showed up and knew anything
or had any gear at that time, they actually showed up in the disaster zone with
no coordination from all the groups across the state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>There was no command structure--Nick Gilman
was the American Humane Assocation boss and it was very frustrating to him to try to get people to
work together, especially since donation management was poorly coordinated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Back then, animal rescue people
were viewed as very unprofessional and more worried about their “turf” on the
scene than working together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;\p&gt;
</span>
</p></font><p><font face="Calibri" size="3">This was a wakeup call to
emergency management officials to include animals into our planning.</font></p>
<p>Dr. Sebastian Heath&nbsp;conducted interviews&nbsp;after this incident and created the
<a href="http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=is-10.a and http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=is-11.a" target="_blank" mce_href="http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=is-10.a and http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=is-11.a">Animals in Disaster series of programs on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s site</a>,<font face="Calibri" size="3">
which started getting people involved in incident command structure and
training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>This made them more
professional, more team oriented, and more involved in the bigger picture.</font></p><font face="Calibri" size="3">
<p>During flooding in Sacramento, Calif., in 1997, issues still existed
between the groups. They literally staked their claims on the different parts
of the river without cooperation, mostly because of the money
donations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Very little communication,
collaboration, and cooperation between groups and&nbsp;even less between the federal
and&nbsp;state governments&nbsp;and nongovernmental organizations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Why? Field disaster responders are expensive to maintain and field. On
average, it takes seven disasters to generate enough donation money to cover
the first&nbsp;six.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>True, these groups can raise a lot of money after
a disaster, but it takes a lot of money to respond<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;and</span> logistics are horrifically expensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>To remain viable they have to get
the donations to be able to fund their efforts.</p>
<p>Hurricane Floyd 1999 had some very close calls. Dr. Janice
Baker (also in the audience) supplemented her experiences here where the Dept.
of Agriculture and Emergency Management and the NGOs or even “experts” brought
in for the response were at odds as to financial impact on the industry versus
welfare concerns versus saving animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>The concept of working together were part of the lessons
learned after the floods, and for the first time North Carolina started a
concept called the <a href="http://sartusa.org/sart-state-links/" mce_href="http://sartusa.org/sart-state-links/">State Animal Response Team (SART), which has since then
spread to 28 states</a>.</p>
<p>Trust wasn’t there yet – in the 2000s&nbsp;an effort was made&nbsp;to
start the National Animal Disaster Coalition and the Animals in Disaster
Conference. They didn’t last long but were a good first effort.</p>
<p>In 2005, Hurricane Katrina showed the huge resource management
difficulties when then moved over 10,000 animals through the Lamar Dixon
shelter in Louisiana. About 40% of these animals were rehomed – the rest
found their owners. But it forced the NGO and federal authorities to play
together, and HSUS was really well set up financially and infrastructure and
delegation of authority to operate the shelter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;
</span>HSUS absorbed the rest of the NGO and federal groups into their command
structure… and caused the lessons learned to include recognizing the importance
of animals into disaster planning. It waked up the NGOs to get more IM and ICS
training… and the importance of evacuation planning.</p>
</font><p><font face="Calibri" size="3">In <a href="http://narsc.net/" mce_href="http://narsc.net/">2006 NARSC</a> </font><font face="Calibri" size="3">
was started and represents some real heavy hitters on all levels; and <a href="http://www.nasaaep.org/" mce_href="http://www.nasaaep.org/">National
Alliance of State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Programs (NAASEP)</a></font><font face="Calibri" size="3"> evolved as a
national network of stake holders to promote effective all hazards animal and
agricultural emergency management with&nbsp;best working groups and has a
national summit. Meanwhile, out of the PETS act of 2006 (although unfunded and
untoothed) but it amended the Stafford Disasters and Relief Emergency
Assistance Act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was crucial for
the first time it defined pets and service animals and encouraged operational
planning.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pets_Evacuation_and_Transportation_Standards_Act" mce_href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pets_Evacuation_and_Transportation_Standards_Act"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri" size="3">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pets_Evacuation_and_Transportation_Standards_Act</font></a><font face="Calibri" size="3">
there was an emphasis for the first time on working together at all levels from
local on up to federal, and with the NGOs who were often much better set up to
respond to disasters from large hoarding cases to natural disasters.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Finally we see a lot of improvement in evacuation for
everyone by Hurricane Gustav in 2008 in Louisiana where over 3 million people
evacuated--went flawlessly--only 1,200 animals were sheltered and with a 100%
rehoming rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The state declared a state
of emergency&nbsp;six days before out of their lessons learned, and experienced a
huge success. </font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Since then there have been ever increasing numbers of disasters, and the animal issues have been constantly addressed in an ever increasingly successful manner.&nbsp;Large animals and horses remain the most difficult to deal with due to their size, fractiousness, and sheer logistical challenges with collecting and&nbsp;sheltering them. </font><font face="Calibri" size="3">Where are we today--everything that we know comes from the
human rescue side "best practices"&nbsp;where we have built&nbsp;a curriculum for animal
rescue personnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>As soon as human
issues are addressed, the animal issues are next priority&nbsp;since they are planning from the instant the disaster occurs, as it should be.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">The future:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>ASPCA
recently received a large grant from Disney to build a disaster MASH for
animals affected by disasters. And in May 2015 there will be&nbsp;eight days of training, a
simulation of the largest full scale evacuation is planned including all the
partners.&nbsp;I will certainly report on this event, &nbsp;and hope that those of you that have been affected by disasters are getting involved at the local level to make things change there.&nbsp;That is where it all starts.&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><b>Do you have stories of disasters and how they have affected you and your horses?</b></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=11171" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxSafety: What to Look for in a Barnhttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2014/03/26/what-safety-concerns-should-you-look-for-in-a-new-barn.aspx2014-03-26T13:52:00Z2014-03-26T13:52:00Z<p><div class="inset image"><img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2014/03/barn-electrical-panel.jpg?preset=medium" mce_src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2014/03/barn-electrical-panel.jpg?preset=medium">
<p>Check a barn electrical panel to make sure it's in good order and inspected.</p>
<p class="imageCredit">Photo: Rebecca Gimenez</p>
</div>
In a recent online "Horse Behavior
and Safety" course with University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) I asked my
students to contribute their ideas as to what concerns they should look for in
selecting a new stable for their horse.
<p>
At this point, they had participated for two weeks in an intense online
course that focuses on handler and horse safety in numerous situations, and
facility safety concerns from barn fire prevention to trailer safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Their answers and tips were quite insightful--and I would like to share them with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Out of the hundreds of students and comments, I have trimmed them down
for this blog post.</p>
<p>First, numerous students noted that it's nice to visit by
appointment, but that you might want to consider "just stopping by" a couple
days after your appointment unannounced. What goes on when people are
expecting you to visit is sometimes different that what happens day-to-day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Several noted that they like to talk to other boarders and working
students about any issues with how the facility is run to get a feel for the
daily ins and outs of maintenance and attitudes towards safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Others said they like to watch some lessons
being given and just observe for a couple of hours at feeding time and while
the barn is being cleaned so they can see if the management and staff
are doing safe practices with horses (especially leading them back and forth to
pastures, etc.).
</p>
<p>
Some of my concerns reach into environmental care, such as whether
the farm fences off the ponds and water sources so that&nbsp;a) horses don't
destroy the riparian environment, and&nbsp;b) no horse falls into the ice in winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Others branch into asking if they keep the
horses out on pasture as much as possible&nbsp;(considering the weather), so they get
to be a herd and simulate mother nature's environmental effects (exercise,
grazing, grooming, etc.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Yes,that's a
medical concern too,&nbsp;because frantic bored horses
in stalls for too long get themselves in trouble (cast, colic, kicking, stereotypic behaviors, etc.).&nbsp;These resonated with many students who shared similar issues with current and past barns where they've boarded.</p>
<p>I like to look at where they keep trailers and vehicles away--preferably away from the barn so that the fire department (or veterinarian) has
room to reach the facility in an emergency, but also so that there's room to
load and unload horses safely and preferably not on asphalt.</p>
<p>One of my very accomplished students, Jo, actually owns a
large barn and contributed: </p>
<ul>
<li>
Check the fences.&nbsp;All of them.&nbsp;Yourself.
(Boarding barns don't always put your horse in the paddock you were told he'd
would go in).
</li>
<li>
Check the feeding routine. Be there at feeding time if possible to see how it
is done&nbsp;and if the procedures they say they follow are actually followed,
especially if they are letting in large numbers of horses without individually
leading them.</li>
<li>And lastly, do they
have stable safety rules posted in a prominent place? &nbsp;Are these rules&nbsp;enforced
and do the other boarders know what they are?</li>
</ul>
<p>Sharon, another student echoed her sentiments: "I would like
to see good 'horse-proof' fencing (if there is such a thing). I would even be
satisfied with 24/7 turnout.&nbsp;If they were stabled, I'd want it to be
light and airy and ventilated--I have seen so many stuffy barns with humidity
and lung problems."</p>
<p>New horse owner Verena said, "I would want to see some
fire extinguishers--especially the big ones--and make sure they are in the green zone."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>She<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>went on to agree about checking stalls, fencing, and feeders/hay feeders for nails, broken, boards and wire.</p>
<p>Felicia agreed with the above observations and then noted, "Whether
it is my trailer or the owners of the facility allow boarders to use theirs, it
should be in an area easily accessible to retrieve and load my horse in an
emergency--like taking it to the vet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
look for 'No Smoking' signs and keeping an eye out for anyone smoking near the
barn (if visiting to check out the place for the first time I would look on the
ground for cigarette butts). It would be a bonus if there were stall doors on
the outside of the barn that led to a paddock(s) in case of emergencies like a
barn fire. Sprinklers would be the grand prize winner! Finally, one of the
major things I would like to see is that the hay and bedding is stored in a
separate building away from the barn."</p>
<p>Nancy was particularly concerned about maintaining a
rotation schedule for grazed paddocks so that the horses had a chance to eat
grass, and the paddocks get a chance to rest in between, and provide a more
natural environment for the horses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although this might not seem like a safety issue, we know from research
that horses that have room and time to socialize with a herd and spend time
exercising tend not to get themselves in as much stress and do dumb things to
get themselves hurt.</p>
<p>A Canadian, Sharon's concerns harked back to this past winter. "I would like to find some way to open outside doors easier," she said. "The main doors are often sliding doors at many facilities and the snow/ice
build up so much that it makes it nearly impossible to open them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>If you can't get your horse&nbsp;out, that is a
major safety concern."</p>
<p>In response Jo said, "I designed my barn with overhead garage doors at each end of the aisle...I don't have to move any snow to open them.".</p>
<p>Monica is very detailed and says she likes to ask, “How many
people are trained in first aid and equine first aid? Who is the specific vet and
farrier for emergencies? Do they conduct safety audits on a regular basis, for example,&nbsp;check gates, secure latches? What about perimeter fencing around
the property in case a horse gets out of the paddock?"</p>
<p>Then she really hit on a good one: "What
experience/training do the stable owners and management have, and are they present
to oversee people that work there who may not be as experienced?"</p>
<p>Other items that she mentioned were, "Halters on or off in
the stalls? Other animals on the property (dogs) that have access to the
horses?&nbsp;Check the feed room for signs of rodent infestation."</p>
<p>Ann is another list maker, and after agreeing with many
others above, she noted that she wants to see “run-ins in the field
providing shelter from heat, wind, rain, and snow. Most importantly, a certificate of a fire safety inspection,
which is annually updated.”</p>
<p>Lastly, Colleen asked, "Is a responsible person on the
premises 24/7/365?&nbsp;What safety procedures are in place (emergency
telephone numbers, first-aid kit, fire extinguishers, mandatory use of helmets)?&nbsp;And,
Is the local fire department trained to handle horses in emergencies?"</p>
<p><b>What are your thoughts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>How would you contribute to a similar
checklist?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Did you go though a good
check of your current facility when you moved in, or did you rely on the good
name of the facility or a friend’s recommendation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>How do you communicate your concerns to the
barn management when you find a broken item or safety concern?
</b></p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=11166" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxResolve to Prepare in 2014http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2014/02/06/resolve-to-prepare-in-2014.aspx2014-02-06T20:22:00Z2014-02-06T20:22:00ZI hope you enjoyed the Holidays with friends, horses and family! Happy 2014 and “Year of the Horse” (which officially kicked off on&nbsp;Jan. 31)&nbsp;to all of you. Let us hope that 2014 will bring brighter futures for horses and people around the world.
<p>As I write this a&nbsp;huge snowstorm “Hercules” is bearing down on the Northeast, preparing to dump snow and ice on&nbsp;more than&nbsp;100 million people here in the United States, and this is on top of a large storm last week that knocked out power to thousands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Over the internet we have been watching communities struggle to provide just fresh water
to their horses under these conditions of frigid below-freezing temperatures for weeks, and sadly several barns have been burned to the ground while their well meaning owners struggled to heat water to above freezing.</p>
<p>I want to make a case for you to resolve to increase your personal- and your&nbsp;horse-level of preparedness in 2014. Ensure you have made better arrangements than to wait until the last minute to react when disasters threaten. The first step is admitting there is a possibility of a problem that could affect you.</p>
<p>The second logical step is admitting that in an emergency it is possible that water, sanitation, food, power, and telephone will not work at your home, your work, and your barn. It will give you a lot of confidence in yourself if you know that you have enough supplies and equipment to be able to react if you're suddenly propelled into the eye of a hurricane or snowstorm or wrecked train of chemicals.&nbsp;Or even if you have a horse that gets caught in a fence or injures itself in the barn. I have <a href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/01/25/disaster-preparedness-and-planning-part-2.aspx&nbsp;" target="_blank" mce_href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/01/25/disaster-preparedness-and-planning-part-2.aspx&nbsp;">blogged about
disaster details for preparation</a><a href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/01/25/disaster-preparedness-and-planning-part-2.aspx&nbsp;" target="_blank" mce_href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/01/25/disaster-preparedness-and-planning-part-2.aspx&nbsp;"> last year</a>).&nbsp;</p>
<p>You don’t have to be a firefighter or military person to be able to increase your preparation level and learn to deal with disasters and emergencies. Setting personal health goals in the new year is all that most people do, but improving you and your family’s overall well-being requires you to take greater action. Knowing what to do in an emergency is vital to the health and safety of you and your loved ones, and if you involve the kids and your neighbors–you will be preparing your community to be more resilient.People who have strong social connections tend to be healthier and more resilient to change and disasters of all kinds (personal, financial, and motional as well as physical). </p>
<p>Since it may take days for emergency workers to reach your location, you must acknowledge that you ought to undertake efforts to ensure your family’s well-being in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or evacuation. You should not even consider working on any plan for dealing with your horse(s) until you get this first part right. Your family is most important, and if they are made part of the planning preparation process this will make them more resilient and capable if a real emergency occurs.</p>
<p>I will assume that you live somewhere else in the&nbsp;United States&nbsp;or the world as you are reading this. I have to ask: Are you just&nbsp;watching what is happening, or what are you doing to prepare in 2014?</p>
<p>Disasters are only a disaster to the people who don’t have a plan or the resources to be able to deal with them. Weather disasters are more and more commonly affecting thousands and millions of people at a time across our country–and you can be assured that rural horse farms are not on the priority list for restoration of utilities! Best of all–you don’t have to do it all at once. Write down a list and research some resource websites–then add to your stockpile all year long.</p>
<p>Preparation can be as simple as making a list of equipment and resources. For example, do you have a trailer and truck fueled and parked facing out, <a href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/06/20/building-a-first-aid-kit-around-reality.aspx" target="_blank" mce_href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/06/20/building-a-first-aid-kit-around-reality.aspx">first
aid kit</a>, battery and charged cell phone, up to date maps of the area, simple hand
tools, extra buckets for water, and a couple days extra of feed and hay? And, do you have phone numbers of people that might be able to assist you in an emergency, such as the local sherriff office, farm bureau, saddle club, riding association, or&nbsp;neighbors with trailers and horse experience.</p>
<p>Or you can get serious about it and take a quick quiz to rate yourself and your preparedness level? One good example is <a href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/01/14/personal-disaster-preparedness-part-1.aspx#sthash.uAaYH5l5.dpuf" target="_blank" mce_href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/01/14/personal-disaster-preparedness-part-1.aspx#sthash.uAaYH5l5.dpuf">my quiz</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Then you can make some simple but crucial <a href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/02/21/top-five-safety-changes-to-your-barn.aspx " target="_blank" mce_href="http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/02/21/top-five-safety-changes-to-your-barn.aspx ">changes to your barn facilities</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Here is a small example which is crucial to those of us that have horses or a horse related business:</p>
<p>Do you know how you would get access to your important documents should they be destroyed in a disaster or emergency? Your Coggins papers, your registration information, and all your business documents? What if, after a disaster or while traveling, you lost everything? With no wallet, ID, or smart phone, most of us would be horrified and lost. Can you use Google drive to store and download and print copies of critical documents? Do you have another online FTP site to accomplish this? Do you have an off-site storage of paper files and digital copies? </p>
<p>I hope this blog got you thinking about the new year and the possibilities and improvements that you can make. <b>Let me know your ideas and feel free to ask questions about how you might make your level of preparation better. Do you have examples of how you are doing things to prepare? Please share!</b></p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10675" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxBuy Reflective for You as well as Your Horsehttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/12/30/buy-reflective-for-you-as-well-as-your-horse.aspx2013-12-30T17:01:00Z2013-12-30T17:01:00Z<p>There was very sad news recently&nbsp;about a
<a href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&amp;sid=27755813" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&amp;sid=27755813">person chasing her loose horses</a>&nbsp;and accidentally getting hit by a car and killed. The horses were not injured in the incident.<span>&nbsp;</span>What a horrific thing to happen while trying
to do the right thing for her animals.</p>
<div class="inset image">
<img src="http://cdn.thehorse.com/images/cms/2013/12/reflective-vest-example.jpg?preset=medium">
<p>A reflective vest can save lives in low-light situations. </p>
<p class="imageCredit">Photo Courtesy Rebecca Gimenez</p>
</div>
<p>This is unfortunately the second case of this same scenario occurring in the United states&nbsp;this year, earlier in February 2013 in California another woman was killed while <a href="http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/lake-elsinore/lake-elsinore-headlines-index/20130214-lakeland-village-woman-killed-chasing-escaped-mini-horse.ece" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/lake-elsinore/lake-elsinore-headlines-index/20130214-lakeland-village-woman-killed-chasing-escaped-mini-horse.ece">trying to catch
her loose miniature horse</a><span>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Again, her miniature horse was not
injured in the incident.</p>
<b>Where Do We Start with Prevention?</b><p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We all preach how to do prevention (closing the gates, fixing fences, building an outer perimeter fence, putting locks
on paddocks, etc.) but animals continue to get loose, and it can happen in an instant of forgetfulness or innocent misunderstanding.</p>
<p><b>How Many Incidents Occur?</b></p>
<p>While the number of horses that get loose is unknown, from the number of reports to animal control organizations, there are many thousands that do end up out of
their primary containment.<span>&nbsp;</span>We can also base our concerns on the number of horses that get killed by being hit by a car (four <a href="http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/article_63c40c74-5211-11e3-9e56-0019bb2963f4.html" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/article_63c40c74-5211-11e3-9e56-0019bb2963f4.html">horses killed when hit by car</a>) or that kill someone driving a car that hits them (<a href="http://www.krtv.com/news/man-dies-after-car-hits-horse-near-browning/" mce_href="http://www.krtv.com/news/man-dies-after-car-hits-horse-near-browning/">man dies after hitting horse in Montana</a>) each year.While there are no official numbers, the frequency of related news reports is astonishing to anyone who does a Google search. </p>
<p>It is obvious that we as an industry need to improve prevention of horses from escaping into the road, but first we have to admit that it could happen to any of us.&nbsp;It would be nice for someone in the industry to start keeping track of these reports as well.</p>
<p>Many people think of reflective wear when riding--it is important to wear reflective when you are riding in any urban environment as well. Others fail to see the
importance. Based on the sad saga of one <a href="http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/One-Man-Dead-After-Being-Struck-By-Vehicle-214459581.html" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/One-Man-Dead-After-Being-Struck-By-Vehicle-214459581.html">Midwestern man who was riding with a child and was killed</a> in a hit and run incident without reflective, then four other people trying to assist on scene were hit by yet another vehicle, reflective could have prevented&nbsp;two incidents.</p>
<p><b>It Happens to All of Us</b></p>
<p>If you talk to other horse people, many of them will admit it HAS happened to them. It happened to me in 2001 when Karma, one of our cherished foals, was about 2 months old. He laid down to close to the fence and rolled under it, getting up on the outside of the fence! Fortunately we heard his dam whinnying for him and saw her acting weird and were able to lead her to a gate and he followed. This was solved far more easily than when lots of animals get loose as a herd and start running though a neighborhood. Animal control officers and law enforcement report many serious cases of estrays (animals loose) that occur at all times of day and night, and in all types of neighborhoods.</p>
<p><b>What is a Simple Solution?</b></p>
<p>I recommend that horse people buy a reflective vest to roll up and keep in their vehicle door pocket.These days they are available at Tractor Supply, Wal-Mart, and other vendors. Then put the vest on if you get into the road for any reason (chasing loose horses, changing a tire, checking for trailering issues, etc.) People in
other vehicles can see you, and although that doesn’t mean that it makes it safe for you to go into the road chasing your horse, it makes it possible for the other driver to understand that you are there, and they may slow down. That will help prevent tragedies of horrific proportions to your horses, and to you. </p>
<p> It is bad and dangerous enough to have your horses get out--don't get killed for it.</p>
<p><b>Have you had any close calls with cars when trying to catch a loose horse?</b></p>
<img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10501" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspxProtecting Vet Students from Horse-Related Injurieshttp://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horse-911-whats-your-emergency/archive/2013/12/27/horse-related-injury-to-students-enrolled-in-vet-and-animal-science-educational-programs.aspx2013-12-27T13:00:00Z2013-12-27T13:00:00Z<p>At the 2013 International Large Animal Rescue Conference (ILARC) in Australia,&nbsp;Dr. Chris Riley of Massey University in New&nbsp;Zealand&nbsp;predicated his presentation with photos of injuries sustained by riders and students and asked a very difficult question to the audience: “What is the&nbsp;price of learning and love for animals? Should a student be willing to die for their work and learning?”&nbsp;</p><p>The room full of veterinarians, students, and emergency responders at Roseworthy Campus of Adelaide University positively wiggled with whispers and nodding heads, the audience acknowledging that these things do happen.
Risk assessment and management are a fundamental part of emergency response agencies, which normally consider a “near miss” event to be fundamental to changing standard operating procedures (SOP).</p><p>Many horse and vet types take a polar opposite approach--using the “red badge of courage” approach of experience gained through exposure and hopefully survival. Thus attitudes to equine-related incidents are often based on&nbsp;fear and&nbsp;risk aversion (especially at the corporate level) and may result in knee-jerk SOPS instead of evidence based concerns. This reliance on anecdotal evidence as to how dangerous it is to work around large animals has been spotty and commonly the expertise to stay out of danger is based on experience (which is unfortunately often associated with injury).
When Roseworthy Campus was building their brand new <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/new-worldclass-horse-hospital-to-open-at-roseworthy/story-e6frg6n6-1226748553833" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/new-worldclass-horse-hospital-to-open-at-roseworthy/story-e6frg6n6-1226748553833">equine clinical building at the veterinary school</a>, which opening coincided with the ILAR conference, they took the chance to attempt to answer these questions, and Chris was a driver of this effort to design the school. He realized that large animal interest has been waning over the last 20 years or so, often because of concerns for safety centered around working with live large animals. He asked the question whether that was fair.
</p><p>This research project came out of his efforts to find some concrete answers:
Riley asked us, “How much training do people get to be able to drive a vehicle--versus the amount of training they get in actually handling horses and cattle?”&nbsp;When you think about it, obviously more people die in vehicle accidents than they do in large animal incidents, but there are still measureable numbers for both. He mentioned cutting edge methods used in various workplaces to increase safety (Example: <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9saGmVz74Y" target="_blank" mce_href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9saGmVz74Y">the use of the Equichute for training jockeys</a>). </p><p>The basis of his research was based on the <a href="http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com/aviation:shell-model" target="_blank" mce_href="http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com/aviation:shell-model">SHELL model for aircraft safety</a> affected by human factors in which he wanted to look at how human factors can improved.
Chris, his student researcher Jess, and colleague Kirrilly Thompson&nbsp;used a survey to obtain information on the background equine experiences of veterinary and animal science students, and of horse-related injury during their studies. Of 260 students, 8% students reported horse-related injuries. The most commonly injured parts of the body were the foot or ankle, the upper leg or knee, and hands. Being trampled was associated with about 30% of injuries, and being kicked by a hind limb, 30% of injuries. The nature of the injuries reported was most often bruising (90%) or an open wound or laceration (17%). No treatment occurred for 60% of incidents; the rest of the injuries were self-managed. </p><p>The research showed that most incidents (&gt;50%) occurred during program-related extramural placements for training in equine or farm animal husbandry. Injuries were attributed to inexperience on the part of the student, inattention by the student or the handler, and fear or aversion responses by the horse. Students were at risk of injury that is mild to moderate in severity. Although injury rates and severity were modest, a proactive approach to injury prevention is recommended for equine handling or veterinary education. Particular attention should be given to reviewing safety procedures during program-related extramural placements where students receive training off-campus, and accident and injury data should be monitored to ensure effective evaluation of risk-reduction initiatives. </p><p>Riley's long term goal is to make sure that the large animal careers maintain their status as a rewarding and sustainable career path for students moving into them. He has submitted this research for publication and I look forward to seeing the full treatment of their research soon.
This presentation generated lively discussion with the groups represented after the presentation was complete, and all comers congratulated Riley for his cutting edge attitude towards this effort. </p><p> I am sure that many of you will have questions and be able to relate your stories similar to injuries of veterinarians and students by horses--please feel free to share them here.
I personally have met equine veterinarians who have done this work for many years and had minimal injuries, but I also know several veterinarians that have a laundry list of horrific and small injuries to themselves and their staff members.&nbsp; </p><p><strong>The goal is not to bravely show off our injuries when we survive--it is to find better ways to keep ourselves safe and our staff members and students.&nbsp; What are your ideas on this?</strong></p><img src="http://cs.thehorse.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10383" width="1" height="1">DELPHIACRES@HOTMAIL.COMhttp://cs.thehorse.com/members/DELPHIACRES_4000_HOTMAIL.COM.aspx